We tend to think of “research” and “product development” as separate enterprises: the former characterized by creativity, the latter by application. Yet successful, entrepreneurial researchers are expert at capitalizing on creativity while also optimizing for value, cost, and time.

A growing body of commercial equipment is available to help researchers develop creative solutions efficiently, with a clear path from test apparatus to fully-fledged product. In this talk we will discuss LabSmith products and tools for microfluidics research and product development. We will show how this apparatus makes it easy to assemble and automate instruments spanning technologies such as multi-channel electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis, pressure, flow and temperature control, and real-time particle counting and characterization. We will show how these resources help researchers create custom solutions that: produce robust results; apply affordable, broadly available apparatus to move research from test setup to prototype to product; and, take advantage of automation to reduce time and improve test efficiency.

We will provide examples in diverse microfluidic technologies that have been applied in academia and business with remarkable success.

Multi-Omic approaches for different biomarkers is becoming a viable
strategy for liquid biopsy diagnostics and early cancer detection. Using
new electrokinetic devices (ACE chip, Biological Dynamics, San Diego,
CA) now allow sample to answer Multi-Omic analysis of exosome and
extracellular vesicle (EV) biomarkers as well as cell free (cf) DNA and
RNA from the “same” 20-50 µL sample of blood, plasma or serum.
Fluorescent detection of the cf-DNA and RNA, and immunostaining for
exosome/EV protein biomarkers can be rapidly carried out directly
on-chip. Subsequently, cf-DNA and exosome/EV entrapped RNA can be eluted
from the ACE chip, whereupon dd-PCR, PCR and sequencing analysis is
conducted to identify cancer-related point mutations. We were able to
show correlation of immunofluorescent detection of exosome/EV glypican-1
and cf-DNA KRAS mutations determined by digital PCR and Sanger
Sequencing for a number of pancreatic patient samples. This provides
further advancement towards integrating multi-omic analysis as a single,
on-chip platform, with an ultimate goal of providing seamless
sample-to-answer point-of-care liquid biopsy diagnostics and therapy
monitoring from a small sample of patient blood.

The first commercially-available lab-on-a-chip devices are now more than 20 years old. Over the past decade, the complexity of microfluidic devices has reached a level not even dreamed of before. Complex laboratory processes can be integrated and automated on-chip, from sample to answer. However, the mass production of such devices is still far from being widespread. In the meantime, the acquisition wave continues, leading to an impressively rapid structuration of the industry. As a consequence, a minority of players now represent 75% of the microfluidic market and seem to be the only ones which reach large production volumes. In this presentation, Sébastien Clerc will give some inputs to understand this situation, explain what the keys to unlock the situation are, propose alternative strategies for which commercial success does not lie on large volumes, and overall share Yole’s vision of the latest microfluidics market and technology trends.

Modeling and simulation are key components of the engineering development process, providing a rational, systematic method to engineer and optimize products and dramatically accelerate the development cycle over a pure intuition-driven, empirical testing approach. Modeling and simulation help to identify key parameters related to product performance (“what to try”) as well as insignificant parameters or conditions related to poor outcomes (“what not to try”). For microfluidic devices, modeling and simulation can inform the design and integration of common components such as mixers, micropumps, manifolds, and channel networks. Modeling and simulation may also be used to estimate a range of processes occurring within the fluid bulk and near cells, including shear stresses, transport of nutrients and waste, chemical reactions, heat transfer, and surface tension & wetting effects. I will discuss how an array of modeling tools such as scaling arguments, analytical formulas, and finite element simulations may be leveraged to address these microfluidic device development issues. I will also work through a few examples in detail.

Microfluidic devices have been increasingly used for low-volume liquid handling operations. However, laboratory automation of such delicate devices has lagged behind due to the lack of world-to-chip (macro-to-micro) interfaces. In this paper, we have presented the first pipette-free robotic-microfluidic interface using a microfluidic-embedded container cap, referred to as a Microfluidic Cap-to-Dispense (µCD), to achieve a seamless integration of liquid handling and robotic automation without any traditional pipetting steps. The µCD liquid handling platform offers a generic and modular way to connect the robotic device to standard liquid containers. It utilizes the high accuracy and high flexibility of the robotic system to recognize, capture and position; and then using microfluidic adaptive printing it can achieve high-precision on-demand volume distribution. With its modular connectivity, nanoliter processability, high adaptability, and multitask capacity, µCD shows great potential as a generic robotic-microfluidic interface for complete pipette-free liquid handling automation.

In this presentation, we discuss the challenges and solutions of implementing WLP processes for LOAC products. The overall complexity is addressed by transferring MEMS standardization protocols, methodologies and equipment available in the MEMS into the field of microfluidics. The approach is illustrated by 3 case studies: Double emulsion droplet generation, Electrical impedance flow cells and NGS flow cells.

The range of applications for microfluidic devices is constantly expanding and so are the challenges for manufacturing. There is always excitement for the development of new manufacturing methods, but the importance of new analytical methods is often underestimated by contract manufacturers. Here we present our latest advances in the analytics and QC of injection molded microfluidic devices, that opened up the door to new types of devices, or made it possible to mass manufacture high complexity consumables.

With many microfluidics fab-houses and OEM suppliers on the market the cost of developing microfluidic systems remains high. DropLab explores how this cost can be reduced by orders of magnitude while improving functionality.

DNA nanotechnology currently revolutionizes many areas of science and technology. Our mission is to bring this technology into diagnostics in the form of a truly versatile and customizable detection system. It can be applied to immunoassays just as well as nucleic acid testing. Our technology allows ultra-sensitive detection down to the single-molecule level without additional signal amplification steps. This presentation contains truly novel approaches to tackle common difficulties of (fluorescence) detection. A new type of super-bright and versatile label is discussed along with strategies how to attach the label to its probe. Furthermore, massive multiplexing and simultaneous detection of nucleic acids and proteins will be presented.

The global diagnostics consumable market is changing in dramatic ways. The capabilities and expertise needed to stay ahead of these changes will require a commitment to understanding both complex economic and technological issues. Among the many challenges in managing this complexity, is the coordination and integration of multiple suppliers in the development of a consumable. In an effort, to address this challenge, Schott is building a formidable expertise toward its goal to be a full-service global leader in diagnostic consumables manufacturing. This presentation will overview these challenges and show how Schott is expanding its capabilities as a comprehensive and capable partner in consumables solutions.

As Lab-on-a-Chip devices are increasingly getting more complex including components of different form factors and materials, thus advanced and scalable integration processes are required. As a market leading supplier of wafer bonding and nanoimprint lithography (NIL) equipment, we will demonstrate how these technologies are applied to microfluidics chips. We will discuss processes for hybrid integration schemes such as CMOS integration and will show how NIL can be used to integrate on-chip optical bio-sensing by nanometer-scale resolution patterns.

In early-stage developments of microfluidic devices, many tasks have to be covered like the biological solutions, fluidic systems, instrument ….Development groups who take care of the microfluidic designs, often rely on prototyping technologies with the core focus on costs and lead-time rather the design for manufacturing for a scalable plastic part. The outcome is often designs, tolerances, and materials that are far away from production robustness and scalability. “MAKE A PRODUCT FOR THE WORLD MARKET” should be the slogan from the beginning to not run into iteration issues which could have been eliminated in the earlier stages. In this presentation, common topics in this transition stage of fluidic designs will be high-lighted and explained what different requirements mean in terms of injection molding tool manufacturing approaches but also in terms of production of the product.

Hummingbird Nano’s new manufacturing technology enables features and performance in microfluidic chips that conventional methods have had difficulty in achieving. These include circular channel cross sections, solid form chips (no layers, no lids, no bonding), side-wall inputs, integrated connectors, ultra-smooth channels and no expensive tooling. The net result for users is better flow, better detection, less chip loss due to channel fouling, less reagent use, higher cell survivability and less time to process. This presentation gives a brief overview of the manufacturing process, reviews test results for the chips and discusses their performance benefits.